Turning up on a small wheeled recumbent at the beginning of the ride caused a bit of a stir and some hilarity.

However, three days later I was the only one not searching for the nappy cream.

Lands End to John O'Groats is the classic length of the UK tour from the furthest southwest to the most northeast corner of the island, several hundred or over a thousand miles depending on the route and between a week to as long as you like for the trip.

As I had never toured I took a supported two week trip. Peak Tours organised everything, carried the luggage, provided guides, routes, accommodation, feeding stops & emergency repairs.

Although they don't advertise it they also provide companionship and I ended up with the "Masters Tour", four of us who decided not to hurry along, but enjoy the ride, after all what else did we have to do all day?

You can't really turn up and ride, as the first couple of days through Cornwall and Devon are tough with endless up and down sapping your energy.

The scenery however is lovely along the coast and onto Dartmoor. Staying off major roads is entirely possible and there is little traffic. Then on day three we struck north toward Bristol, and up through the Wye valley along the border between Wales & England.

The halfway point is the exquisite Lake District and there are stark contrasts between the lovely countryside and the tortuous routes through the industrial towns of the Midlands.

This variation continue until Glasgow where there is a wonderful cycle path & from then it's the Highlands and the Lochs up to the last day along the northern coast to John O'Groats.

I was lucky to cycle the whole trip in July 2013 was covered by a heatwave, so keeping up my fluid balance was critical, but I was surprised by the extent of my adaptation so after three days I found I had no pain or stiffness anywhere -- a tremendous testament to the design of my SatRday which was utterly reliable and very visible, provoking a lot of pointing & staring.

Then when the trip was over I was able to pack my bike into it's bag & back on to the train to Bournemouth and the bike has had a rest after it's 997mile jaunt.